The part I don't get is why they did all of that crap outside of a box. And I am guessing that they got the 220V by using the hots from two separate runs (on opposite phases) from the breaker box as well. Which I am sure is against code for more than just being the wrong gauge of wire.

No, the stove circuit is done properly (by 1950s standards) on it's own 2-pole breaker (the outlet is a hack job, though). That tangle is a run to a switch and back and then to some under-cabinet fluorescent lights.

EDIT: here's how it looks now. Gas valve and outlet are in, it's not pretty but should be safe and functional once I get the box covers.

The part I don't get is why they did all of that crap outside of a box. And I am guessing that they got the 220V by using the hots from two separate runs (on opposite phases) from the breaker box as well. Which I am sure is against code for more than just being the wrong gauge of wire.

No, the stove outlet is done properly (by 1950s standards) on it's own circuit. That tangle is a run to a switch and back and then to some under-cabinet fluorescent lights.

Huh.

I was trying to trace through all that spaghetti to figure it out, but there is too much you can't tell because of the tangle of wire.

I suppose the correct way to do it would be to do all of this in a junction box and then just put a cover over it for access? I know Mike Holmes always loses his mind when people bury junction boxes behind drywall. Not sure if that is code for the US as well...I assume so.

Yes, by US code, all junctions of wires (where those wires are nutted together) must be in a junction box of an appropriate size (though it looks like you added a box in the middle?). If you've got any junctions hanging out back there on your own, do yourself a favor- open it back up, and get yourself some boxes, and do it right.

Ok, the window treatment (if you can even call it that) over the door to our back deck makes me want to weep, it's so hideous. What can I replace it with? Whatever it is, it needs to be easy to close and block out the light. The only reason I haven't just ripped the damn thing down and gone blind-less is that we use it to keep the sun out during the summer.

You can order custom wood-slat blinds that would work wonders there. They actually attach to the door/window frame insets, not the wall above. http://www.blinds.com

Any length, and width. Make sure to get the kind that fasten at the bottom for the door...otherwise the rattle can be kind of annoying when you go in/out that door. I bought around 14 or 15 custom blinds a few years back, it was around $1500 IIRC. I got the 2" wood slats, stained in a color of my choice (kind of a rich mahogany finish). They block a LOT of light, but still offer good viz when 'open'.

I have a critter that seems to have gained access to the attic in my new place. I got on the roof and there were no intrusions so I looked around the eaves and, what do ya know, one of the vents under the eaves just above a rainspout appears to have been enlarged. This is the rough area where the vents are:

There are rafters that come out and what I'm hoping is someone knows of a product which attaches to the underside of the rafters, creating almost a soffit of sorts, that'd be impervious to animals while still allowing airflow. I'm picturing something like an aluminum mesh or something but more attractive than simple chicken wire. What say you all ... does anyone know of such a product?

Just for the lulz, I posted this before Googling for a specific product.

Edit: my Paint skills fail to convey that the vents are recessed from the bottom edge of the rafters pictured.

Google "under eave soffit vent" Not clear exactly how you want to resolve the situation, but something like this might work. I've seen the need to provide soffit venting done two ways, 1. is to finish the underside of the eaves that extend out from the house with a flat surface (a soffit) that is made up of aluminum or plastic strips that incorporate vents or a sold surface such as plywood that has vents installed every few feet or so, and 2. vents that cover holes in the vertical fascia board.

Thanks. I found some half-decent stuff along those lines at the lumber store. Since there's no horizontal soffit, I wasn't sure if they had good products other than screen for this solution. I've only dealt with the full soffits before, not just vents under the eaves.

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In the meantime while you figure this out you might want to just take some screen material and staple or attach it over the hole the critters are using to get into your attic.

Yeah, I did that. Turns out its birds so not quite as bad as rats or squirrels. They've been working o pulling the screen away, the little bastards, but I have some time before I have to go all out up on a ladder.

So our bathroom sink drains are all of the "push button" variety. As in its a spring loaded stopper (no downrod). Of course, they all stick now so the sinks can't be plugged. I've been trying to source replacements, and so far it looks like I'll have to order it as all the local stores only have the same low grade crap that we have now.

Does anyone have experience with some push button sink drains that don't suck? I was thinking of the Decolav 9297, but its (a) unclear if it will fit properly and b (b) if its twice the price and just as crappy. Thoughts/suggestions?

As an aside, I've been seeing conflicting advice as to whether or not I should caulk the underside of the sink where the drain's retaining bolts would go up against. Some things/manufacturers say yes, others say plumbers putty, or nothing at all (just the bundled washers). Is there a standard best practice?

We have a string trimmer that's a part of the Ryobi 1+ line. Meets all of your criteria, and uses the same batteries as the drill/circular saw/impact driver/flashlight/sander/etc/etc...

Thank you for the recommendation. I got one on Friday and was able to do all the trimming on one charge - about an hour. Recharging went quickly too - about an hour vs. the 2-3 hours for the Greenworks.

Even though they both use an 18v battery, the Ryobi One+ seems to handle thicker clumps of green grass much more easily.

My only complaint is that it's noticeably heavier than the Greenworks model, so I'm glad I got a harness for it. My left arm was pretty sore from using it.

Did some DIY stuff last week. After a load of laundry everything would drain a bit slowly, but would be fine about a hour later. Determined it had to have been on the line to the main sewer. Decided to save a few bucks and rented an auger to do it myself, but couldn't get the sewer access line right outside the house open. It was pretty rusted solid. Removed an unused toilet and snaked it down that line. I went out 75', and it apparently didn't help. Well it was only $40 for the rental. Called a local sewer cleaning service and he just busted off the cap on the outside sewer access. He probably went a good 50' with his auger and cleaned it out. It was probably roots so we will have to watch things in the future and maybe get it augered out regularly. I was surprised that it only cost $150 for him to come out. I thought it would have been more.

Also, in preparation for the DIY augering, I went in the crawlspace under the house to see just how everything was laid out. Under the house it kinda reeked of natural gas. After crawling around to check out the pipes, I then turned out to see just how the natural gas lines were laid out and to see if I could find the leak. When I looked, I quickly realized I was actually laying on top of one of the gas lines.

Idiots, ran a 3/8 copper line from the utility room (off from the line feeding the water heater) down under the house. the line was just laying on top of some of the water lines at the top of the crawlspace, and then just fell down to the floor of the crawlspace. It is only about a 10' run, from one side of the utility room to the other (for the gas dryer), but they like used 20' of gas line. It looked like I wasn't the first time that someone laid on top of it because it looked like it had two kinks in it. Obviously that line had to be replaced. Turns out the leak was not from the kinks, but there was a pinhole leak at the end of that line (about a foot after the kinks).

Ended up replacing the copper pipe with 2 6' flex gas appliance connectors. Also replaced the old valve with a new ball valve. WTF is up with the gas line adapters? I thought the adapter included would have allowed me to connect two lines together, but the diameters of the two ends are slightly different. I went back to home depot, and they don't have any adapters that would let me do that (or none that I could find). Ended up buying a female adapter that allowed me to do what I wanted. Anyways, got everything together, no leaks at all. YAY!

I thought the adapter included would have allowed me to connect two lines together, but the diameters of the two ends are slightly different. I went back to home depot, and they don't have any adapters that would let me do that (or none that I could find).

Probably because you're not supposed to do that. There's a warning not to connect them end-to-end on the label of the one I just used to hook up my stove.

Did some DIY stuff last week. After a load of laundry everything would drain a bit slowly, but would be fine about a hour later. Determined it had to have been on the line to the main sewer. Decided to save a few bucks and rented an auger to do it myself, but couldn't get the sewer access line right outside the house open. It was pretty rusted solid. Removed an unused toilet and snaked it down that line. I went out 75', and it apparently didn't help. Well it was only $40 for the rental. Called a local sewer cleaning service and he just busted off the cap on the outside sewer access. He probably went a good 50' with his auger and cleaned it out. It was probably roots so we will have to watch things in the future and maybe get it augered out regularly. I was surprised that it only cost $150 for him to come out. I thought it would have been more.

He probably had a much better blade on his and, frankly, there's more to it than just sticking the auger down. As you found. It really isn't expensive, unless you let it go too long and they get stuck in there. Then the hourly gets a bit steep. I know because my former landlord, the idiot, decided to save a couple hundred bucks and ended up ... well, let's just say she regretted it and so did we.

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gas lines

Jesus! How are you only now discovering this? You need to start checking the rest of the house; this is pretty basic stuff!

Had a "FML" home improvement day today, that is actually probably a blessing in disguise.

Was finishing up pulling off old sheet rock for the office reno (ended up removing the bottom four feet of rock, as it was somewhat damaged, and I wanted to run conduit/networking lines, as well as terminate a circuit outside that we could later run down to our garden). I was carefully pulling down the rock around the breaker box, when I noticed something quite horrifying- water dripping out of our breaker box. Upon closer inspection, there was water between the breakers in the box.

A year or so ago, we had flickering lights on the main floor of our house. I went down to investigate and saw that the 100-amp breaker that feeds the main floor sub-panel was sparking. Pulled the breaker to find that it was all corroded at the connections. Replaced it, and all was fine. Now I know why it was corroded.

Turns out when the previous owner finished the basement in 1999, they changed the incoming service. It used to be 100amp service to the main floor (and the basement was unfinished/had no power other than a single light). So they converted the 100amp main into a 100amp sub, and installed a 200amp main in the basement. The incoming line is under ground in conduit. They didn't properly seal the opening of the conduit where it comes into the panel, and likely didn't provide a drain in the conduit for condensation. So over the years, condensation built up in the conduit, and started slowly dripping in, running down the main lines into the breaker box.

The conduit is now properly plugged, and should no longer leak, however there is quite a bit of corrosion in the breaker box now. A $400 trip to the home improvement store, and I now have a new breaker box ready to install tomorrow. I wonder what the electrical inspector is going to say when he walks in for a service box replacement inspection and sees the lower half of the drywall removed in the whole room.

TL;DR - Water was leaking into my main service panel. Not a fun Sunday.

I never actually looked at the instruction sheet that was inside of the connector package . I kinda figured they did it to prevent people from using them the way I wanted to.

With the auger I used, it was definitely smaller than the one the drain guy used. Before renting the auger I did a walkoff of distance to where I thought the main sewer line was and I was sure that 75' would have been enough to reach it. There was a bend just inside the house I could tell because of some resistance, but got past that and ran out the total of 75'. If I would have hit a blockage, I am sure the line would have let me know. The cutting head was only 1-3/8", and may have just fed through the restriction in the pipe and didnt clean it out......or, more likely, I never reached the blockage.

The drain guy's machine had a cutting head that was at least twice the size, and while he was there, I figured out the sewer line was at least 20' further away than I thought based on manhole covers. I'm not convinced it had to do with roots since our front yard only has a small fruit tree that has grown anemically over the past 10+ years. The neighbor to or right has a fricking huge pine tree, but I'm not sure if the roots would reach 50' away and 3' down.

He did a good job though, they didn't work by the hour. They have a flat rate of $99 for indoor drains and $150 for outdoors. They would charge extra if they had to move a toilet or anything for inside access. They also had a video camera for inspections for $99 if needed. They are definitely going to get a recommendation if any friends need their drains augered.

I'm not convinced it had to do with roots since our front yard only has a small fruit tree that has grown anemically over the past 10+ years. The neighbor to or right has a fricking huge pine tree, but I'm not sure if the roots would reach 50' away and 3' down.

They might, but it's doubtful. Shrubs can do this too, though a fruit tree can also be seeking water if it's been having trouble for a decade. I'd pay them for the camera in 6 months and see what's developed in the meantime.

I wonder what the electrical inspector is going to say when he walks in for a service box replacement inspection and sees the lower half of the drywall removed in the whole room.

In DC they have a web page that lays out pretty clearly what requires a building permit. For example. one entry on their FAQ states "Replacement of the following materials: Up to 160 square feet (9.3m) of gypsum board"

Probably a good idea to understand clearly whatever the local requirements are. Neighbors went through a series of no less then 3 stop work orders on their DIY as a result of an plumber reporting them to the building inspectors.

The incoming line is under ground in conduit. They didn't properly seal the opening of the conduit where it comes into the panel, and likely didn't provide a drain in the conduit for condensation. So over the years, condensation built up in the conduit, and started slowly dripping in, running down the main lines into the breaker box.

Not all that uncomon, especially with larger systems, conduit is rarely water proof, and manholes are usually full of water. You should re-route the conduit to allow it to drip outside of the panel, it wont hurt the conductors any.

The overpressure release on the well has started firing. Water pressure has been becoming increasingly erratic over the past month or two. It probably means a replacement well switch, at least. Hopefully *not* a switch and pressure tank both. Time to call a plumber.

I need to come up with a lawn care plan for this year. I haven't had the time to make it a priority for the last few years since we moved here.

Some background: The yard had not been maintained very well for many years before we moved in. The grass is thin and there are patches of moss all over the place. Two springs ago I attacked the moss with a steel rake and over-seeded with a deep shade grass seed. It has been better, but I am still seeing small patches of moss a couple inches across all over the shady parts of the yard. So I want to put down some moss-out to kill it quickly and then lime to have a longer term solution in place. I should get a soil test done, but when i asked for a kit at Home Depot the guy just laughed at me and told me to put down lime.

In addition to the shade and moss, the worst part of the yard is under a Norway Maple and the soil is quite compacted. When we have a moderate rain there are puddles in the yard for a few hours. So I need to aerate as well. I believe this is an autumn task?

And weeds. There are lots of weeds. Broadleaf plantains, dandelions, yellow wood sorrell*, ground ivy (aka creeping charlie)* I want to over-seed to let the grass fill in, but also want to put down a pre-emergent herbicide to kill the weeds. I know these can't be done at the same time but which would be a higher priority?

*only in the sunny part of the yard

So on my to-do list are:

Moss-outLimeoverseedPre-emergent herbicideFertilizerPost-emergent herbicide later in the season

He probably went a good 50' with his auger and cleaned it out. It was probably roots so we will have to watch things in the future and maybe get it augered out regularly. I was surprised that it only cost $150 for him to come out. I thought it would have been more.

Oh jesus keep a really close eye on this. My girlfriend had THREE floods in her house where water draining into the sewer system backed up through the lowest point--a toilet in the middle of her house.

She had tree roots growing into her sewer pipe. After the first augering, instead of there being a couple thick roots there was a spider web of new tiny roots that did a fantastic job of catching anything and everything, so the blockage happened again very quickly. She used that root killer stuff, and a month later it backed up again.

The only real solution is to put in new pipe. I strongly suggest sucking it up and spending the money ASAP.

I need to come up with a lawn care plan for this year [...] In addition to the shade and moss, the worst part of the yard is under a Norway Maple and the soil is quite compacted. When we have a moderate rain there are puddles in the yard for a few hours. So I need to aerate as well. I believe this is an autumn task?

And weeds. There are lots of weeds. Broadleaf plantains, dandelions, yellow wood sorrell*, ground ivy (aka creeping charlie)* I want to over-seed to let the grass fill in, but also want to put down a pre-emergent herbicide to kill the weeds. I know these can't be done at the same time but which would be a higher priority?

If it's heavily shaded most of the day you'll have a tough time getting much of anything to grow well, from the Norway maple wiki entry:

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Norway maples release chemicals to discourage undergrowth, which tends to create bare, muddy run-off conditions immediately under the tree. Their roots grow very close to the ground surface, starving other plants for moisture. For example, lawn grass (and even weeds) will usually not grow well beneath a Norway maple, but English Ivy, with its minimal rooting needs, may thrive.

If your lawn has more in common with the understory of a mature forest than a prairie it's unlikely to ever meet lawn ideals.

He probably went a good 50' with his auger and cleaned it out. It was probably roots so we will have to watch things in the future and maybe get it augered out regularly. I was surprised that it only cost $150 for him to come out. I thought it would have been more.

Oh jesus keep a really close eye on this. My girlfriend had THREE floods in her house where water draining into the sewer system backed up through the lowest point--a toilet in the middle of her house.

She had tree roots growing into her sewer pipe. After the first augering, instead of there being a couple thick roots there was a spider web of new tiny roots that did a fantastic job of catching anything and everything, so the blockage happened again very quickly. She used that root killer stuff, and a month later it backed up again.

The only real solution is to put in new pipe. I strongly suggest sucking it up and spending the money ASAP.

Agree . I would suggest the first step would be to ensure you have access to approximately $8,000, +/-.

The good news: my entertainment center renovation project is underway! Demoed on Saturday, framing will be finished today, and I will build the cabinets by mid-week so we can fine-tune the measurements.

The bad news: my next few weekends are booked. I am going to see whether I can quietly do some drywall work without my helper, in evenings after the rest of the house is asleep. If not, it will be a few weeks until I can get it done. But as they say, well-begun is half done.

If your lawn has more in common with the understory of a mature forest than a prairie it's unlikely to ever meet lawn ideals.

On that note, does anyone here have any experience with the newer artificial grass products? We've been kicking around the idea as an option to replace some gravel-paved areas in our yard, including one very shady area.

I chatted briefly with a guy who had some a few blocks away, who happened to be giving his a semi-annual power-washing as I walked by. He sounded fairly happy with it, and the grass effect was fairly convincing.

He probably went a good 50' with his auger and cleaned it out. It was probably roots so we will have to watch things in the future and maybe get it augered out regularly. I was surprised that it only cost $150 for him to come out. I thought it would have been more.

Oh jesus keep a really close eye on this. My girlfriend had THREE floods in her house where water draining into the sewer system backed up through the lowest point--a toilet in the middle of her house.

She had tree roots growing into her sewer pipe. After the first augering, instead of there being a couple thick roots there was a spider web of new tiny roots that did a fantastic job of catching anything and everything, so the blockage happened again very quickly. She used that root killer stuff, and a month later it backed up again.

The only real solution is to put in new pipe. I strongly suggest sucking it up and spending the money ASAP.

Agree . I would suggest the first step would be to ensure you have access to approximately $8,000, +/-.

/replaced main sewer pipe last year because of the same problem

We're going to see how it goes. When the lines were backing up it wasn't that bad, at the worst some water backed up into the bathtub. BUT, the reason why it wasn't that bad was because the lines in the house are pretty fubar. The house had an extension built way back whenever, the closet in the addition once housed the washer/dryer. When we moved in it was just a closet and the washer/dryer were in the utility room. When the pipes would start backing up I could hear some dripping in the back, and realized the excess water was leaking out of the pipe from the former wash room and into the crawlspace under the extension. Another project for the summer is to get under the house and fix those pipes up.

The drain guy warned us that roots may grow back and prepared us. His estimate at replacing the main pipe was only about $2500. The water company will foot part of the bill that is between the sidewalk and sewer main, but I have no idea how far that will be since we have no sidewalk in front of our house .

Wow, that seems cheap to replace the main line. Before we bought our house we had the sewer line scoped and found some of the joints were moved around which means we will eventually need to replace ours in the nearish future. I think we got quoted around $5-6K. I suppose it depends on the length of the pipe(he-he) that needs to be replaced and where you live.

House wiring question: I see metal jacketed cable, is that a requirement anywhere, optional, etc.? I'm wondering if it is the "beyond the standard" for home cabling, and required in business, or what? Where, if anywhere, would it make sense to go in houses? Is it something that would protect against an errant wall hanging nail or screw?

House wiring question: I see metal jacketed cable, is that a requirement anywhere, optional, etc.?

That's called BX or Armored cable. In my area it's required when cable is either not behind drywall, not in wooden rafters or is being run through metal studs or other metal support structures. Your local electrical code may be different of course.

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I'm wondering if it is the "beyond the standard" for home cabling, and required in business, or what?

For a whole house? Likely - however local Electrical code may require it's use throughout the home. It normally is used in businesses, as they are normally partitioned with drywall on metal studs

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Where, if anywhere, would it make sense to go in houses? Is it something that would protect against an errant wall hanging nail or screw?

Along an internal brick wall would be one place it should be used, or when run along a steel girder. It's not a whole lot of protection from screws and/or nails, though - the jacket is very segmented and is rather soft (as metals go)

House wiring question: I see metal jacketed cable, is that a requirement anywhere, optional, etc.?

That's called BX or Armored cable. In my area it's required when cable is either not behind drywall, not in wooden rafters or is being run through metal studs or other metal support structures. Your local electrical code may be different of course.

It may also be identified as Type AC or Type MC cable. As noted, it can provide extra protection where the cable is exposed. There are some code jurisdictions (Chicago for one, I know) where the common "Romex" Type NM-B cable is not allowed, and wiring must be in Type AC/MC or some other type of conduit. It's also very common in commercial buildings with steel studs and dropped ceilings.

Our cabinets are custom built onsite. So all stick, all glued and nailed together. The cubby for the fridge is too small to accept anything bigger than freezer-on-top 20 cubic footers. We have 7 in the house. So not cutting it. Since the fridge is showing signs of impending doom, I am getting things ready to accept a larger fridge. We have looked at several 22-23 CF french door models that give us a lot more capacity for the size. They will fit width and depth, but need more height. The cabinet above the fridge is not in use anyway. So I have an idea.

Note: We are in no position to put in new cabinets. That will be several years down the road when we completely gut and redo the kitchen. Removal of bulkheads, new cabinets and counters, new sink, removal of tile back splashes, new flooring. It will be complete overhaul at that time. This is just a get-me-by.

My idea is to take the shelf of the cabinet over the fridge and raise it 3 inches. That gives plenty of clearance for a bigger fridge. I really only needed about 2 inches but taking an extra inch gives me more room to fudge. So last Saturday my father in law and I took the face apart and the shelf out. The shelf was even glued to the drywall, leaving me to have to do repairs there.

Shots with the facing removed and cut. Drywall damage in evidence:

I have since put two coats of lightweight joint compound on the damaged area. Sanded and primed tonight:

We have new paint picked out. My wife will pick it up tomorrow or Wed so that I can paint inside the area Wed or Thurs evening. I just need to get some matching wood putty so that I can have the wood ready for touch-up staining after my father-in-law puts it back together this coming Sat.

We put an offer in on a place at 7PM on the 18th. Apparently our offer was better than the other one that was also put in and they countered at 10:40PM that night. We talked a bit, accepted their counter offer and had it all done by 10:55PM.

Total elapsed time to buy a house: <4 hours.

We just got word from the mortgage broker that everything is finalized on her end today. Home inspection next week and then possession on May 1st.

Well, it has been a busy couple of weeks around here, getting ready for the baby to arrive (my wife and I both work out of the house, and our current home office is to be the baby's room, so we need to create an office on the lower level).

If you look back a page or so, you can see our google sketuchup of what we hope is the final result. Basically we had a 21' x 13'4" room, and our house has almost no storage. So we wanted to take the rear 5', partition it off for a storage room, leaving a 5'x13'4" storage room and a 15'6"x13'4" home office. During the demo process, I found that water was coming in through our main electrical service conduit. So a side project was properly sealing off the conduit and replacing the breaker box. With that out of the way, much progress was made (picture time!)

The original room as you walk in through the door from the rest of the house. The light coming in from the left is a big sliding glass door that walks out at grade to our property:

And a shot with my back to the glass door, looking towards the back of the room (the breaker panel is on the left side of the rear wall, but was painted blue, so is hard to see):

After ripping up the carpet, demoing the closet, boxing in some pipes at the back of the room, framing in the partition wall, installing a pocket door frame in said partition wall, conduit for data lines, etc...

Now drywall is up. Notice the orange junction boxes- these will be 10GigE wall plates. The server will live in the storage room (there is a 2-gang box where the conduit terminates in there):

And the view looking back:

Here is the new storage room. The boxed in area at the rear left is due to a bunch of plumbing that I didn't want to re-locate (primarily the main waste water stack for the house):

Ceilings are being scraped/mudded/taped today, and will eventually be retextured with a knockdown texture. Then over the next few days the walls will be finished.